


Of Pining and Sass

by vicalily



Series: KuroTsuki Festival Week! [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 12:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicalily/pseuds/vicalily
Summary: Kuroo is pining hard for the blond first year in the library, so encouraged by his two best friends he tries to win the first year’s good graces. Tries.





	Of Pining and Sass

Piercings | **Pining** | Photography

“Just talk to him, man.”

“How ‘bout no?”

“Dude.”

“No.”

“ _Dude_.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Do you even know how sad this is?”

Kuroo squawked indignantly. “It is definitely not sad, it’s... respectful.” Yeah, respectful. Not flirting with ridiculously tall, attractive blonds was very respectful and not at all sad.

Akaashi, who had previously been a spectator to his and Bokuto’s argument, lifted his head from his wok to stare flatly at Kuroo. “You’ve been respectfully staring at that poor first year since he arrived. It’s creepy.”

“And sad,” Bokuto cheerfully added.

Ganged up on by a power couple, ouch. “I don’t want to hear anything from you two, you were like the pining kings of Pine-land. It’s a miracle you even got together.”

Kuroo huffed and crossed his arms, but Akaashi looked at him slyly from behind his textbook.

“So you admit it’s pining.”

Kuroo threw his hands skyward. “I give up. Leave me alone to respectfully not pine over the cute first year.”

“So you admit he’s cute?”

Bokuto was grinning widely at him, not even pretending to do schoolwork, totally focused on ridiculing him in the middle of the library instead. Akaashi snorted quietly, which as far as Kuroo could tell was the closest thing to a laugh Akaashi could produce, and Bokuto held his hand up for a high-five. He rolled his eyes as Akaashi gently tapped Bokuto’s hand with his own before curling his fingers so they were holding hands instead.

Bokuto’s gold eyes went wide and adoring as he stared intently at Akaashi. Most people got unnerved when Bokuto stared at them so openly, and having been on the receiving end himself he could understand why; being stared at by Bokuto made him feel like his soul was on display. But Akaashi merely stared back. They continued to stare, unblinking, until Kuroo cleared his throat.

“Yep, I’m still here. Kuroo Tetsuro. Sitting at the table, doing my schoolwork.”

Neither broke eye contact, the tension growing thicker every second, but Akaashi at least acknowledged him. “If it’s making you uncomfortable, go sit with your first year.”

“He is not my first year.” Kuroo protested weakly, not that he was paid any attention as Bokuto and Akaashi shifted closer together.

It became apparent he was intruding on a private moment, so he slid his schoolwork into his bag and shuffled off awkwardly. While he was overjoyed they both sorted out their feelings and got together, there was an undeniable spark of envy. They had found something special, and Kuroo wanted that for himself.

A shock of blond hair caught his attention as he sulked out of the library and his thought process went something like: ‘ _Screw it! What could go wrong?_ ’ Which, admittedly, was a poor plan.

He changed direction and suddenly he was standing in front of the first year’s table. With absolutely no idea what to say. He nervously played with the strap of his bag, praying for inspiration when a bored voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Can I help you?”

Kuroo looked down, still trying to formulate some sort of casual yet flirty way to introduce himself, when he kind of forgot how to breathe. The evening sun spilled through the windows onto tantalising pale skin and adorning blonde curls with golden light. He glowed like some sort of divine being, and his sharp honey irises seemed to unravel him from the inside. Well he was screwed.

He might have kept staring until the library closed if the first year hadn’t started tapping his pen on the table in an irritated rhythm, face pinched in a scowl. “Well? I’m busy.”

Kuroo panicked, managing to croak out “Nope,” before turning on his heel and speed walking out of the library as fast as humanly possible, not daring to look back and make himself look even more like an idiot by walking into a shelf or something.

He safely made it outside without injury, but immediately sought out the closest wall to smack his stupid head against. What was that? He was going to die alone - never mind scoring a date with the cute blond -if that situation ever repeated itself. He banged his head against the wall a second time before shaking himself and heading in the direction of his and Bokuto’s shared flat.

He would try again the next day he decided, a few minutes into his walk home. Although he had just mortally embarrassed himself, he refused to let it be their only interaction. He would be his usual provocative and witty self, and the first year would be completely smitten with him, they’d go on a date and this whole episode would be forgotten. It was a fool proof plan and Kuroo walked the rest of the way with a spring in his step, feeling very pleased with himself.

* * *

Kuroo quickly realised his plan wasn’t quite as air tight as he had initially thought when the boy in question hadn’t yet shown up. For the following week. And Kuroo was being thorough, aside from his part time job at the local coffee shop and lectures, he was staked out in the library from morning until evening, when the building was closed. Occasionally he was joined by Bokuto, who proclaimed he had graduated from ‘sad’ to ‘stalkerish’ (which Kuroo was fairly confident was not a compliment) yet still there was no sign of the blond angel. The only positive was that he had done so much work he was reading ahead in all his subjects.

Honestly he wasn’t sure why he was trying so hard, and he was ready to give up after the second week of no-shows, but then there he was. As his last hope began to die he appeared like an answered prayer.

He had just finished work, having had an incredibly busy shift where it felt like the entire student populace had shown up demanding cafinated products, so he was conscious of the fact he looked like death warmed over. Nevertheless he ran a hand through his unruly hair and strolled over to the occupied table.

“Yo, Blondie, can I sit here?”

“No.”

His chest squeezed painfully, but he tried to hide his crushing disappointment with as much grace as he could muster. “Without hesitation, that was brutal.”

Cold eyes flicked up to meet his, and narrowed in what could have been recognition. “Perhaps if you weren’t so irritating I’d be more polite.”

Kuroo gasped dramatically. “You can be polite? Well colour me surprised!”

Blondie’s scowl deepened as Kuroo plonked himself down, with as much shuffling of papers as humanly possible, in the seat directly next to him. Kuroo spread out his notes, grinning at the first year who was staring hard at one of the vacant seats on the other side of the table as if deciding whether it was worth the effort to move all his notes and himself away from Kuroo. He must have decided it wasn’t because he looked down at his notes and began to studiously ignore Kuroo.

They sat in silence for half an hour, during which time the first year managed to draft an entire essay and Kuroo watched him intently while he did so. As soon as the draft was complete, Kuroo held out his hand for Blondie to shake. “I’m Kuroo Tetsuro.”

The first year smiled, sickly sweet and fake, before lightly grasping his hand. “Nice to me you. I’m incredibly irritated.”

“Interesting name.” He said dryly, leaning back in his chair.

“It’s a traditional name that goes back generations.”

“On your mother’s side, I presume?”

“My father’s actually, he hails from the noble family of Leave-Me-The-Hell-Alone.”

Kuroo snickered. “That was a good one, Blondie.”

There was a heavy sigh. “My name is Tsukishima.”

“I’m gonna call you Tsukki.”

“Tsukishima.”

“Tsukki.”

Tsukishima pinched the bridge of his nose then rubbed at his eyes wearily. “Whatever, anything’s better than ‘Blondie’.”

Kuroo smirked at his clear annoyance; he loved riling people up to the point of despair. It was one of his many talents.

Tsukishima started to pack up his things quickly and was about to stand when Kuroo latched a gentle hand around his wrist. “Will I see you tomorrow?” His voice was sickeningly hopeful, but he couldn’t help it, Tsukishima looked so beautiful when he scowled.

Tsukishima’s nose wrinkled in distaste, but Kuroo could’ve sworn there was the lightest dusting of pink on his cheeks.

“Maybe.” He shouldered his bag and hurried out the room, leaving Kuroo with a dopey smile on his face and renewed hope for the future.

* * *

Tsukishima, or Kei as he later found out, did come back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that as well.

They formed a routine of daily study sessions, some of which involved studying, but mostly consisted of the both of them chatting quietly under the strict gaze of the librarian and trying to stifle laughter at each other’s quips and jokes. When he was beside Kei his presence consumed him, unable to think about anything but the way he laughed, his intelligent eyes and sharp-as-knives retorts. When they were apart it was much the same, turning over every new piece of information about Tsukishima over in his mind until it was committed to memory.

He hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask him out yet, but seeing him snicker into his palm, glasses perched on his nose, Kuroo felt content to just to watch. Kuroo’s eyes traced the sweeping curve of his neck and decided that wasnt entirely true. 

Later that day Kuroo flopped down onto his bed Tsukishima’s laugh playing on repeat like a broken record in his head and groaned loudly unto his pillow. He turned his head to look at Bokuto, standing in his doorframe looking more smug than he had any right to be.

“Welcome to Pine-land, my friend.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


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